Until a few years ago, setting product costs were more intuitive than logical. Based on consumer feedback or a series of manual surveys as conducted by outsourced market research agencies, product costing had been largely overlooked because there wasn’t any better approach to it.
Advertising drove brands and had a marveling impact on the masses. However, as the retailers, big or small, try to decrease their products' time to market, the automation of product pricing has become increasingly important. That is, the ability to aptly change the prices of millions of items, to avoid waste, and to stay upfront with changing trends has retail players enticed to reach higher profit margins.